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"Well, I just had my motor reb

"Well, I just had my motor rebuilt &#40;98 Johnson 90hp&#41; and while I think it will be reliable for several more years to come, I still really, really want a new motor &#40;here I am 2 weeks after the rebuild and the fuel pump craps out - OUCH. I can just see getting nickeled and dimed to death w/ electrical and &#34;small things&#34; over the years&#41;. I also absolutely hate the way mine sounds, smokes, etc. This also seems to be a great time to repower b/c the dealerships are all slashing prices and competition is tough. I have it narrowed down to a Suzuki 115hp 4 stroke or an Evinrude 115 E-TEC.

The pros of the Suzuki are 6yr warranty if bought by the end of April, 4 stroke, timing chain, forged crank. They seem VERY well built and my friend has twin 300&#39;s on his boat and they&#39;re very powerful and sound great. He&#39;s had no issues.

The Evinrude will bolt right up to my boat though. I just need a new tach and oil tank. I like that it doesn&#39;t need oil changes every 6 months, but that&#39;s kinda offset by buying oil to burn. I know they&#39;re powerful &#40;2 stroke&#41;, but never been around one in person to hear how quiet. It can only be quieter than mine though - that&#39;s for sure. It has a 5yr warranty, but has to be purchased by 4/15. Also minimal maintenance - 3yrs or 300hrs. Awesome!!

The main thing that scares me is the oil injection system. I hated the VRO on my Johnson and ripped it off and premix now. What are the chances the E-TEC is going to do the same down the road?

The difference in money is $500 installed in favor of the E-TEC. I could probably shave a few hundred more off if I install myself &#40;simple swap since most stuff gets reused&#41;, but I still have to take it to the dealer for programming. The $500 is assuming my current prop will work on the new motor though. It will definitely fit, but they&#39;re not sure if it&#39;s the right size &amp; pitch. If I need a new SS prop, I was quoted $486, so there went that advantage. &#40;The Suzuki is new controls, gauges, SS prop, install, etc&#41;.

"If it were me, I'd pick t

"If it were me, I&#39;d pick the E-tec. A camp I volunteer at has many different boats that have run many different motors over the years. The classic two strokes were solid performers. They tried a Ficht on one of the ski boats in 1999. It was a strong performer when it ran. After that everything was converted to Yamaha four strokes. They are clean and quiet, but a real turd trying to pull skiers. I&#39;m certain the E-tec would give the best performance. The E-tec has also proven very reliable, a stark contrast from the early Fichts. I think the Suzuki would be equally reliable, but the performance gap coupled with the ease of using your existing rigging makes the Evinrude the more attractive choice in my book."

"Both good motors but Id go wi

"Both good motors but Id go with the E-TEC. I have one on my pontoon, 50hp and it is a very impressive engine. Well built with very reliable company backing. 4 strokes are still heavy by design. Think SkiDoo snowmobile reliablity, still in business and 2 stroke proven performance. With all the modern updates on the E-TEC you should have no dinosaur VRO problems. Bargain in the sale deal for an extended warranty at no extra charge. Boat dealers are worse off with this economy then the car salesman, strike a good deal!"

"Well, if the deal is done by

"Well, if the deal is done by next Wednesday, Evinrude extends the warranty to 5 years. I&#39;m not really sure how much room is really left in the deal to negotiate. The motor lists at $10500 and I got them down to $7750. Of course, I have to add install, new tach, oil tank, tax, etc, so I&#39;m at $9300 out the door.

I love the idea of the E-Tec, but for $500 more, the Suzuki comes w/ new cables, controls, ss prop and an extra year warranty &#40;and of course the gauges, install, tax, etc&#41;.

I&#39;m gonna try and pit the two against each other and see if any more price reductions come my way. I may just enjoy my fresh Johnson too - just wish there was a way to quiet it down and not smell smoke when idling. My wife didn&#39;t really expect that on her first trip out. I know it&#39;s trivial, but on a flats boat, I&#39;m practically riding on the motor..."

"Greg:
Nice commercial, but t

"Greg:
Nice commercial, but to me more a demo of what different prop types can do!!!
Have a closer look and LISTEN to the video.
Yes, the 4-strokes are slower, but...
Rollie:
Yes, OMC went down, but even in my &#39;remote&#39; location I hardly had a problem! Problems were mainly at distributor level.
Do You dare buying a GM or Chrysler these days?"

"Morton,
Firstly I am not ass

"Morton,
Firstly I am not associated with any of these manufacturers. I understand what you mean about listening to the video as well. I put it up here hoping it may cause some accurate feedback and discussion as it seems a common question. I agree it wouldn&#39;t be hard to &#34;fudge the results&#34; by altering props. It wouldn&#39;t be hard to leave a plug lead off either!

"Greg;
I'm not accusing a

"Greg;
I&#39;m not accusing anyone for anything. That video I&#39;ve seen before.
When I was still &#39;active&#39;, my daughters used to run my &#39;ice-cream boat&#39;. I normally used RIB&#39;s, Bombard &#40;Zodiac&#41; 5 and 5.5 m. The were rigged with anything from 35QL &#40;3 cyl&#41;, 50 2-stroke, 50 4-stroke, 70 2-stroke and 70 4-stroke. I got quite a good experience in the different characteristics of the 2 and 4 strokes when it came to hole-shots, economy You name it. For water skiing I&#39;ll take a 2-stroke above anything. For trolling/fishing nothing beats a four stroke. In between comes all the wishes and demands of the customers. There are no single answers to the question 2 or 4 strokes.
If You look at first posting:
-I hate the smell - go for 4 stroke.
-I do not like noise - at idle 4-strokes are &#39;quieter than 2 stroke, at full speed the other way around. Then it is even a frequency question.
- I do not like to buy oil to burn - better to throw it away? Depending on running hours an E-tech might consume less than an oil-change during a season, and no oil-filter!
Price - are we talking &#39;life time&#39; price including service parts and other running costs, or just initial investment costs?
It may be an endless &#39;This &amp; That&#39;.
As for Andrew:
Demand a test run and then decide! Would You ever buy a car,motor bike, TV or whatever new or used&#39; without a test run?